


Future Me

by nazangel



Series: BatLantern Week 2020 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Batfamily, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Family, Fluff, Gen, Humour, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22977103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazangel/pseuds/nazangel
Summary: Batman gets hit by magic and now Bruce Wayne is twenty-something with memories to match.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne and his kids, Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne
Series: BatLantern Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1651180
Comments: 7
Kudos: 305
Collections: Batlantern Week





	Future Me

Hal flew as fast as he could toward Gotham.

"There was a magical attack on Batman. We could use you here,"

That was all Oracle had told him.

And now he was flying at top speed toward his boyfriend.

Once he got to the Batcave, he was instantly let in, the other Bats probably expecting his presence.

He was expecting a lot of things once he got to the med bay. From screaming and crying to plants sprouting out of his skin.

What he wasn't expecting was an unconscious Bruce.

A very young-looking unconscious Bruce.

"Uh, what?" he asked

All the other occupants of the room, Hal was too frazzled to count exactly how many members of the bat-clan were present, turned their heads toward him.

"We were fighting a new magical opponent when Bruce got hit by a blast," said Dick, "We've already sent the guy off to Zatanna. Now we're just waiting for him to wake up,"

"There are two options here. Either B got de-aged or our B and this guy have swapped places,"

"Uh-okay," said Hal stepping closer to the bed, "Not that I'm not grateful for the call but why did you guys call me here? Don't you guys handle these things among yourselves?"

Tim shrugged, "The more heads the better. And we don't know what his memory is like so we decided to call you,"

"And trust," murmured Cass, "Trust you. Family,"

And no, it was not the time to get chocked up over the fact that his boyfriend's favourite child just called him family.

"Okay," he said, "Okay. Cool. Um, if you're taking suggestions, we should probably move him upstairs though. If we don't know exactly how much of his life he'll remember. Don't want him to freak out on us,"

"That is a good idea, Mister Jordan," said Alfred from behind them, "Master Jason and Master Dick, why don't you move Master Bruce to the main sitting room,"

And wow when did he get in here. Good Lord, this whole family needed bells around their necks.

The two oldest boys gently picked up their father between them and moved toward the elevator, the rest of the family behind them, those who couldn't fit in the elevator heading up the stairs.

Once they got to the room, they deposited Bruce on the couch, taking up various positions around the room.

"So, what do we-" started Duke and was interrupted by a loud ring.

Barbara pressed her finger to her earpiece, "I'm here Z. What's the report?"

The girl nodded a few times as the family waited with baited breathe.

"Okay. Thanks, Z," said Barbara, clinking her piece off.

"So," she said turning to them, "Turns out the guy was just an amateur that got possessed by one of his grandmother's caged demons?"

"What now?" said Jason

"Yeah. They're looking into it," said Barbara, "The staff that was used just de-aged him. It's supposed to be used to jog memories and experiences and should wear off on its own,"

"Do we know what his memories will be like?" asks Stephanie

Barbara shook her head, "Just the result of the action, not exactly the how,"

"Well," said Alfred, "With that bit of mystery solved. We should just wait for him to wake up. I will prepare tea and snacks in the meantime. Master Damian, would you like to come and help me?"

It was phrased like a question but Hal had known the older man long enough to know that it wasn't. Not that Damian seemed to be any mood to fight Alfred on it. On the contrary, he seemed to be relieved to have the excuse to leave the room, almost like he didn't want to...

It suddenly occurred to him how scary this probably was for the young boy. The rest of the occupants of the room either remembered a much younger Bruce and all of them were practically adults. Damian was still a child and had only just started getting comfortable around his father. And as much as Damian liked to act tough, he was still just a little boy, and little boys worshipped their fathers.

A soft groan pulled his attention away to the figure on the couch.

Bruce was waking up.

xxx

Bruce opened his eyes, fighting against his headache.

Had he gotten drunk again? He hoped not. He hadn't gotten blackout drunk since he was fifteen.

"Bruce?" There were someone's hands on his shoulders, helping him sit up.

"Alfie?"

But no. The hands were too light, too small to be Alfred's.

"No, it's Dick, Bruce?"

Now _that_ made him open his eyes.

"What now?"

And then Bruce's eyes widened. Because he was surrounded by about a dozen people, all looking at him with varying degrees of concern.

"Um, who are you, people?"

A series of emotions went around the room.

"You don't remember us, B," said a teenage girl with blonde hair, a wary look on her face.

"We're your kids, B,"

His eyes widened. What?

"Well not all of us obviously but yeah, most of us were raised by you and-"

"Shut up Tim," muttered a young man with a tuft of white hair, "You're just confusing him more,"

"Right," Tim murmured, "Sorry,"

He should be freaked out, shouldn't he? There were strangers surrounding him and his memory was very very foggy. Yet, he felt a sort of familiarity and ease surrounded by these people.

"Maybe someone could explain from the start?" He asked

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," said a very familiar voice.

Bruce turned in relief and then stopped.

"Alfred, why do you look so old?"

Alfred smiled, "It's a long story, Master Bruce. Why don't you have some tea, while you listen,"

Bruce nodded and leaned back as ordered.

xxx

Bruce was staring at them with wide eyes.

"Okay, so most of you are...my children? How many do I have again,"

"Biologically, one. Legally, six. Emotionally, three more," said Barbara, "And no I'm not one of them. I'm like a little sister. So is this one,"

Kate lifted her hand and gave a little wave

Hal watched as Bruce's eyes flitted between both women and then stopped at Kate.

"Kate Kane?"

"Yup,"

"Huh," said Bruce, "So what? We...like each other now,"

Kate laughed, "Something like that,"

"Hmm. And you?" he said turning to Barbara

"Oh come on, Bruce," she said wit ha grin, "Are you saying you don't recognize your favourite redhead,"

"My favourite- wait! _Barbara!"_

"Hey, Bruce," she said softly

"Oh my god," he said, emotion shining in his eyes. He reached out, almost involuntarily, and Barbare came forward and quickly took his hand in his.

"Oh my god," he repeated, eyes still wide, "You're supposed to be a seven years old little girl,"

Barbara laughed, "No, B. You're supposed to be a forty years old man,"

"Wow. Okay. Wow. And you?" he said turning to Helena

"Helena Bertinelli," she sais, extending her hand. Bruce took it and gave it a shake.

"We're friends," she told him, "It's a long story,"

Broce nods in ascent, "And the rest of you are my children?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turns toward Hal and he feels him himself straighten under the penetrating gaze.

"Not you though?" said Bruce, "You look a little too old for that,"

Hal tries to think of a suitable answer but the decision is taken away when Jason smirks and opens his mouth.

"That's your boyfriend," said Jason, light smirk on his face, "But, honestly, we're all just waiting for the rings,"

"Huh," sais Bruce, seemingly unfazed. Then he dragged his gaze up and down Hal's body.

"At least future me has good taste,"

That one earned him a groan from his kids and, Hal would never admit it, made him feel a little giddy.

Bruce then turned his head toward the rest of them.

"And what are your names again?" he said, gesturing his gaggle of children

"Richard. I was the first but you adopted me when I was an adult,"

"Jason. Jay. I came after Dickiebird,"

"I'm Tim,"

"Cass,"

"Damian,"

"I'm Duke. I'm the most recent one,"

"I'm Stephanie. I'm not really your kid but you're pretty emotionally attached,"

"I'm Cullen,"

"I'm Harper. Cullen and I are biological siblings. We met a while back. You help us out and basically 'dad' us a lot,"

It took everything in Hal to not laugh at Bruce's widening eyes. He got the feeling that up until now it hadn't really hit Bruce exactly how _many_ kids he had as an adult.

Bruce turned toward and Alfred, "Alfie? Do I have a problem? An orphan problem? Is future me sane?"

At that Hal did laugh. It sounded so much like what the league and his own kids said about Bruce.

"Why do I feel like I said something funny?" said Bruce, looking at their amused faces.

He then turned toward Damian, "And I'm guessing you're the biological kid Barbara mentioned?"

"Oooh," said Stephanie, "What gave it away? Was it the scowl?"

"Or the whole angry kid face?"

"Probably the scowl,"

But Bruce was still staring at Damian.

"You have my mother's eyes,"

You could have heard a pin drop with the silence that filled the room. Hal swallowed, thinking of the few times Bruce had mentioned the similarities between two of the most important people in his life.

In the end, it was Bruce that broke the silence again, "And you have Talia al Ghul's everything else. Guess we know what happened with that,"

Someone snorted and a few chuckles went around the room. Slowly and quietly Hal sipped out of the room, leaving the bat-clan to talk amongst themselves.

xxx

Hal was sitting on one of the many balcony's of the Wayne Manor when he heard the door open behind him.

"Hal, right? Why did you leave?"

He turned around and found BRuce standing at the door.

"Habit," he said smiling, "It's basically an unofficial rule that when you're having a moment with you kids, I leave you alone to do it,"

"But you're family too aren't you? That's what they made it sound,"

Hal smiled and hoped that the emotion welling in his chest and clogging his throat didn't show in his face.

"Yes, well certain things are between you and them,"

"Oh,"

There was a moment of silence and then Hal gestured to one of the chairs beside him.

"Come sit,"

Bruce came and sat, giving him an assessing look. Hal was just about to ask when Brue beat him to it.

"How did we get together?"

"Wow. Huh," said Hal, "Uh. That's an interesting story,"

"I want to hear it,"

"Well," Hal began, "We met through work and you and I didn't like each other much. There were more than a few years of just arguing and fighting. But then we were on an assignment together and we got stuck in a cramped place,"

The cramped place had been a cave on a different planet but he figured it didn't need to be mentioned.

"Please tell me we didn't have the cliche sex," said Bruce

Hal laughed "No. We didn't. We did start to talk a lot though. It's surprising how deep a conversation can go when you don't have anywhere to storm off to. Anyway, after knowing that much about each other we couldn't exactly stay mad. Especially since we knew why the other did certain things. One thing leads to another, you took me on a date, I took you on a date. We kissed and now here we are,"

It had been much more complicated than that but that wasn't something he wanted to explain to the twenty-something version of his boyfriend.

"Another question," said Bruce, "Damian seems to be acting a little odd around me. Is that normal for him?"

Hal pursed his lips as he thought about how to answer that.

"I think he's just a bit thrown off by you," he told Bruce, "Most of them have known you long enough to remember a much younger you and are adults that aren't too affected, Damian is young and had a...different life before coming here. While the others are having fun learning about the younger version of the man they love, he just sees a stranger and Damian doesn't do good with trust in the first place. This is just throwing him for a loop,"

"Ah"

There ware a few moments of silence until Bruce spoke again.

"Do you mind if I just sit here with you for a little while longer?"

Hal was confused as to why he wouldn't want to go in with the others but one look at this hopeful face and he bit his tongue and nodded his head.

"Of course,"

xxx

Bruce felt himself stir awake. The first thing he noticed was the headache, the other thing he noticed was that he had fallen asleep in a chair outside. A quick look around indicated that he wasn't the only one. Hal was in the chair next to him, also asleep. Someone had covered them both with blankets.

How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was...

And then memories started coming in snippets. Getting blasted. Being young. Not remembering anything.

The memories seemed close yet also far away.

He should probably talk to Damian though.

"Oh? You look normal again,"

Bruce turned to his right to see Hal sitting up and giving him an assessing look.

On impulse, Bruce leaned over, took Hal's face in his hands and gave him a long kiss. Hal responded with a smile on his lips.

"Huh," he said with a grin, "You _are_ back,"

Bruce laughed and tugged him until they were standing.

"Let's go inside,"

Dick was the first one to see them and nearly knocked Bruce over with his hug. Next were Cass and Steph. One by one they all greeted him but Bruce couldn't help but notice that Damian hung back.

Once everyone had settled down, he walked his youngest to his study.

"Come here," said Bruce, "I want to talk to you,"

Damian follows him silently. When they get to the study, Bruce sits down on the couch and holds an arm out for the young boy. It's telling when Damian doesn't even hesitate to put himself under his father's arm and snuggle into his side.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course," said Damian

"Damian,"

His son sighs, "It was just odd, seeing you like that. It was like you were gone and I guess- I guess it made me a bit uncomfortable,"

"I see,"

"I'm sorry,"

Bruce quickly pulled the young boy into his lap, tucking him close to his chest.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said kissing his hair, "It's okay to feel uncomfortable,"

"Nobody else was,"

"All people react differently Damian. Nothing wrong with that. Okay?"

Damian pursed his lips but nodded.

"Okay,"

"Ready to join the others again?"

Damian nodded and slid out of his lap to stand up. Bruce smiled and lead him out with a hand on his shoulder.

The sitting room was filled with conversation and laughter and Damian instantly settled himself between Dick and Cass.

Bruce, though, took a little longer to watch them, making his chest fill with joy.

God, he really loved his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!


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